DIY Bathroom Remodel

01 April 2011

You know, there is nothing like being in the midst of another hellacious lovely remodel {By the way, we now BEDROOM WALLS! Yay!} with drywall dust in every crevice of the house to remind you that you’re an awful blogger.

First, I should say how incredibly proud I am of Dave and my Daddy O because aside from the drywall, they did everything themselves. Well, I did most of the painting. You know, because I’m such a big help. Ahem. Anywho, it pays to marry well and have a handy Dad. They kicked all kinds of remodel ass.

I love this house. I’ve come to terms that it isn’t our forever house though, so we wanted to make the bathroom nice, but didn’t want to spend top dollar. To keep the remodel under $2k we kept the tub & glass surround {more about that in a bit} the tile floor that is in great shape {& set in cement} and the toilet. Everything else came out completely down to the studs. The old horsehair plaster ceiling, walls, everything. We added much needed insulation in the walls, Dave updated the last of the knob & tube wiring with Romex, the plumbing was updated, and extra support was added in the walls. We also had the added bonus of being able to add a new light switch into Finn’s room which is on the other side of the wall.

And now onto the Before & Afters…

My favorite thing about the room is the way we painted it. The ceilings in the room are really high and the paint just draws your eye up. I used Behr Elephant Skin on the bottom two feet, then Behr Cathedral Gray in the middle three feet, then Behr Graceful Gray on the top & the ceiling. We had intended on white bead board, but made a last minute decision to ditch that idea.

The original sink and mirror and light were mounted really low on the wall. Like abnormally low. Instead of going with another medicine cabinet mounted in the wall, we decided to go with a free standing unit that is a lot bigger. I also love that it has a mirror both on the outside and inside of the cabinet. We went with a white pedestal sink. Dave added another outlet {there was only one before} and it has a built in nightlight.

You can see the paint colors here as well. Dave added the fan switch on this wall along with the light. You can also see the new hardware for the glass shower doors here. It went from a 1980s square to a sleek polished chrome towel bar. My mom had the glass surround put in and when we found out the cost of replacing it {the end piece is stationary glass with two sliding shower doors} we decided to just reuse the old one instead. Dave contacted Agalite about finding replacement gaskets and they sent us all new hardware, gaskets, and everything for our specific set up free of charge. Their customer service was AMAZING.

Hideous 80s tub surround gone and replaced by white subway tile. The shower feels so much bigger with the absence of the old surround. Shampoos are now stored neatly in built in ceramic corner units. Dave also raised the showerhead and tile about six inches for tall peeps like himself.

A close up so you can appreciate the hideous, painted over about 700 times original woodwork, Dave painstakingly stripped and repainted. It was so caked on that you couldn’t even see the detail in the molding anymore. Now, it’s absolutely gorgeous. We also got a Gila kit and frosted the window on top and bottom {24 hour privacy} in lieu of a window treatment. It lets in so much light during the day!

So there you have it. Our DIY bathroom remodel. Hope you like it!

15 comments:

That is really nice. I love the three tone gray walls. Where do you get your ideas? Just from your head? Our bedroom and bathroom is still white from original construction. BORING. We need to do something, but I'm seriously lacking in the decorating department.

It turned out fantastic! I can relate to needing to redo without breaking the bank - we try to do the same, as this is not our forever house either, and we don't want to invest more than we can get back.